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. 2009 Oct 1;1(4):316-339.
doi: 10.1177/1754073909338877.

Reconstructing the Past: A Century of Ideas About Emotion in Psychology

Maria Gendron  1 , Lisa Feldman Barrett
Affiliations

Reconstructing the Past: A Century of Ideas About Emotion in Psychology

Maria Gendron et al. Emot Rev. .

Abstract

Within the discipline of psychology, the conventional history outlines the development of two fundamental approaches to the scientific study of emotion-"basic emotion" and "appraisal" traditions. In this article, we outline the development of a third approach to emotion that exists in the psychological literature-the "psychological constructionist" tradition. In the process, we discuss a number of works that have virtually disappeared from the citation trail in psychological discussions of emotion. We also correct some misconceptions about early sources, such as work by Darwin and James. Taken together, these three contributions make for a fuller and more accurate account of ideas about emotion during the century stretching from 1855 to just before 1960.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The timelines in the figure depict the three traditions of emotion theorizing—basic, appraisal, and constructionist—that we trace in the present review from the Golden Years (1855–1899) through the Dark Ages (1900–1959) and from the Renaissance to the present day (1960–2008). Authors are placed on the timelines based on the present review of their particular model/assumptions about emotion. Those theorists who contributed to more than one tradition are represented in all of the appropriate timelines.
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References

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    1. Averill JR. A constructionist view of emotion. In: Plutchik R, Kellerman H, editors. Emotion: Theory, research, and experience. Vol. 1. New York: Academic Press; 1980. pp. 305–339.

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